The Stories of All of Us
by Phoenix of Decay
Summary: This is the spot where my compilation of one-shots will reside. More detail inside.
1. On the Fifth Day

**_This is where I will keep all of my one-shots I will do. They will pop up at random whenever I start to go mad from working on my main story, Eternal Darkness. These one-shots will be of different subjects and various lengths. And unlike my actual story, these will have actual titles (yay!). _**

**_If you all want to know what inspired me to write a certain one-shot, send me the title in a pm and I'll get to you as soon as I can. And feel free to put down ideas in a review or a pm and if I like it I'll do one when I start going insane again._**

**_Without further ado, I present the first one-shot in this series._**

**On the Fifth Day**

Five days. Five days without her. Five days without her lovely smile, her unbroken love. The Guardians said that her heart gave out due to the stress of her past. No one cared about her death; in fact, they relished it. Some even went as far out as to say they killed her. Many didn't believe them however; among the most skeptical was Spyro.

He was with her when she had suddenly collapsed on the ground on their way through town. She showed no signs of the onset of the heart attack. They were enjoying a leisurely walk together, the same way they had always done for years. When her legs gave out, Spyro caught her, assuming she had tripped. Only once he discovered that she wouldn't get back up did Spyro begin to worry.

At first, he refused to believe it. Heart rapidly dropping into his stomach, Spyro put his head to her chest. Nothing. Her usually focused emerald eyes they were just staring out, empty and devoid of life. Bystanders watched, but nobody had tried to help, nobody. Spyro frantically demanded for the Guardians, and in the meantime, a young dragon, Flame was his name, offered his assistance.

When the Guardians arrived, Spyro was alone with her, hugging her ferociously. The crowd had dispersed and anyone passing by just glanced at them before continuing on with their lives. Spyro was hunched over her, tearing flowing like an untamed river. Terrador, the leader of the Guardians, had to pry her lifeless form away from Spyro so he could do the examination himself.

She was proclaimed dead at the scene. Two days later a funeral was held in her honor. No one showed up, save Spyro, the Guardians, Flame, and Sparx, who Spyro forced to come. Spyro gave the eulogy, and it was a beautiful one that broke the hearts of the few who attended, even Sparx. The words never stopped echoing, even days after.

_Born in a life she didn't want, she was a slave to the Dark Master. She was forced to do things she didn't want to. Even after she was freed, no one wanted to trust her. They isolated her; they abused her mentally and socially. They even stole her possessions. But there was one thing they could never steal or tarnish: her resolve._

_She walked through thin and thick, head held up high acting as though nothing affected her. But little did everyone know that those words and isolation hold a lot of power over her. Every night, she would return back to me, almost in tears and some nights doused in them. _

_She was not only a good friend to all of us, and my mate, she was also an expectant mother. She was taking care of a couple of eggs that were yet to be laid, and now, we will never see our beautiful children. I hold her in my heart, for now and for all eternity._

Once Spyro finished with his speech everyone present took their own time saying final farewells and remembering the good times, few or many, they had with her. The honor for cremation was given to Spyro, partly because he could breathe fire, and partly because it felt right.

Walking up to the specially-built pyre, Spyro looked over his mate one last time. Her obsidian scales had started to gray, and the symbols on her forehead and arms were fading. Pressing his paw to her cheek, Spyro felt her ice-cold body, and he softly caressed her head until¸ at the final moment, he hesitantly pushed it back.

"I love you," Spyro whispered one last time before he spat out a small orb of fire on a torch and set the pyre ablaze. The licking flame crept across the wood until it reached the late dragoness. The fire licked across her scales and soon engulfed her and the pyre. The steady crackling of fire and scales was overpowering and kept everyone silent.

Except Spyro. He broke down in front of everyone and started crying. His tears dripped down his muzzle and melded with the dirt. Eventually everyone left, leaving the purple dragon there alone with the ashes of his mate. Spyro glanced up through his water-filled eyes and could see that the sun was setting over the horizon.

Shifting his gaze behind him Spyro saw that everyone had left him alone. Wiping away stray tears, the purple dragon stood up and left the ashes of his mate to be blown away with the wind.

Three days were spent in prolonged mourning for her, while everyone else gradually returned to their daily lives. Those three days were spent waking up in tears, going throughout the day trying to be strong, and returning home again in tears. This night, however, Spyro had something else planned.

Returning to the pyre where the funeral was held, Spyro had a grip on a small jar. Approaching the burnt pyre, Spyro opened the lid, grabbed some ashes, and gingerly placed them inside the container until it was roughly half-full. Spyro screwed the jar shut and took off into flight.

An hour later, Spyro landed at Twilight Falls, at the mouth of the waterfall where the rock split the river. Going forward until he could see the drop-off, Spyro stood and opened the jar.

This was the spot where Spyro confessed his love to her, and where they had officially becomelife-long partners. Taking a deep breath, Spyro shook the contents of the jar. The ashes flew out of the jar and scattered in the wind. Sitting back down, Spyro gazed into the stars. While all knew Spyro was her mate, none knew how badly he was hurt by the death of Cynder.


	2. Cynder's Corruption

**So, looks like I have another one shot for everyone. I didn't realize how much emotion I poured into the last one shot, which basically made everyone depressed from what I got. I hope I get a similar reaction, but from a different emotion. Enjoy :)**

**Cynder's Corruption**

There are many ways to look at life, but I prefer to make it easier and just say one thing: it sucks, mine especially. Those stupid apes beat me and tortured me every day. Why wouldn't they kill me? Their ultimate purpose was to be rid of dragons. So why did they keep me?

"The Dark Master requires you," was the only answer I would get from the apes, at least once they'd had their violent way with me. I hated them. I HATED the apes. And they hated me just as much.

Any time I would resist, they would only strike harder, so I learned to stay quiet and only speak when addressed, which was very rare. Anyone inside this prison they call Concurrent Skies has hit me at least once, except for a single one: Gaul, the leader of the apes.

We almost never met, except one time shortly after I was hatched. Or so I was told. He had spent a lot of time on the roof of the vile place. One day when the apes failed to shut my door completely, I snuck up there and heard him talking to someone, or something, called Malefor. I didn't like how it was going up there, so I ran back into my room, or should I say, cell.

The walls were a dull grey and encased the space like a box. The place was very small, but also quite spacious due to the fact that I didn't own many things. In a corner near a bricked-off wall, was a small pile of dark grey, nearly black in color, bracers and chokers. The apes never told me what they were for, but just ordered me to leave them there. Not wanting to increase my list of injuries, I complied.

"Food, Cynder!" I heard one of the brutes yell as he nearly bust down the door. The vile creature sneered and tossed in a piece of meat. The lump of meat looked like it came from a thigh of a lamb that might have been killed several years ago. A layer of green mold coated the thigh, and it reeked even worse than those stupid apes.

"Enjoy," was all the ape said before shutting the door and bolting it behind him. I turned to the meat and sighed. Gingerly peeling off the mold coated layer of the thigh, I went to work devouring the edible part. Once done, I had to figure out what to do with the extra layer of moldy meat. After a few minutes of debating with myself, I decided to put it to the side to do a prank on some ape later. Little revenge here and there makes things a little more bearable.

After I put the moldy flesh in a dark corner, a knock came at the door. _Weird, no one knocks on the door, _I thought to myself before opening it. Standing on the other side was an enormous ape, bigger than any one I'd even seen.

"It's time, Cynder. Come with me," the ape said moving out of the way for me to leave. "I'll get the bracers and chokers," the ape said once I left my room. Moments later, he came into the hallway with the pile of jewelry in his right arm. He beckoned for me to come, and I followed him nervously through the fortress.

"Is it ok if I ask what it's time for?" I asked quietly, nearly at a whisper. The ape continued down the hallway until we came to a large room. There was a hole in the ceiling with several floors visible through it.

"It's time to make you stronger, Cynder," the ape said as the floor underneath us shook. I looked at the ape, worried, but he wasn't fazed by the shaking floor. Soon, the ground seemed to rise as we went through the floors until reaching a large room leading outside.

"Is it ok if I ask for your name sir?" I asked quietly still following the ape. He stopped in his tracks and looked at me. I immediately ducked and went into a small ball, expecting him to hit me. Instead I felt a hand grab me and bring me up to his chest.

"The name's Gaul," the ape said brusquely but not impolitely, carrying me outside. I looked out and noticed that several more apes were up here as well. They all gave me and Gaul a look of disgust, more than likely pointed towards me. Gaul set me down on a platform in the center and backed up, smirking in the way that apes do. I must've looked scared, because a wave of deep care crossed his expression, if that could be possible on the face of one of those monsters.

"Don't worry Cynder, they won't hurt you." Gaul said before turning to the other apes. He cleared his throat and started to speak.

"For years, the dragons have looked down upon us. They kept everything they took from us. They kicked us from our homes centuries ago and erected the city they call Warfang. For many years we've tried to take back everything, but they kept pushing us back. But now we have our own dragon to fight on our side!" Gaul raised his arms on the last sentence, sending the crowd that assembled into a frenzy. He twisted his body to show me to everyone, and looks of utter scorn were the only greeting I got.

"The Dark Master will pass some of his abilities onto Cynder. And with her help, we will be rid of the dragons and their pathetic Guardians!" The crowd roared in approval, giving Gaul leaps of approval. He shifted his sights from the crowd to me.

"You ready?" he asked. I turned my head ever so slightly, and he walked over to a lever that was several feet from the platform. He pulled the lever, and an audible clicking noise was heard while gears were screeching to life underneath everyone. After letting go of the lever, Gaul backed up a few more feet and waited for something to happen. It didn't take very long.

Almost as soon as Gaul pulled the lever a strange black mist started pouring in around me. Within several seconds, I couldn't see past my paws, and I felt a strange tugging sensation around my body. Something crept along me seemingly trying to pry my scales off. I let out a shriek of pain as some foreign substance sunk in between my scales, causing every pain sensor in my body to blare. My legs gave out from the blanket of pain, and I collapsed onto the cold platform, throbbing with spasms.

The massive aches moved to my bone, which screamed in protest as if they were being stretched. Soon, the feeling relocated to every part of my body as they too were stretched out like I was made out of taffy. I released another shrill cry, and along with it, some red gas-like substance amplified the sound as it reverberated out of the mist. I could hear the apes howling in approval of my torture.

"I'm going to kill those stupid apes when this is over," I snarled, not caring what would happen to me afterwards. I tried to stand back up, but a wave of nausea struck me, and I fell back down onto my side, arms draped around my stomach. My throat started to choke on a sticky liquid that leaked out of my mouth and settled next to me. It was a green paste that bubbled as crackling sounds emanated, followed by sizzling noises as the liquid ate through the floor. Once that episode was over, I shakily got back up to my feet and saw the mist slowly faded away. I noticed that everyone seemed to have grown shorter and Gaul, grinning as he beckoned me closer.

"Here are your first targets to test out your new abilities." Gaul whispered in my ear pointing to the crowd of apes. I brought my head back, and he motioned again towards the crowd. I felt a smile creep along my face as I walked and faced the crowd. Most were awed by my new appearance, but some still had resentment cloaking their features. I was going to kill those ones first.

Before any ape could speak, I leapt into the air and felt the air currents push me faster towards three apes that didn't see me coming. My paws crushed two apes instantly from my decent and I breathed some sort of black fire onto the third one. It shrieked and tried desperately to quell the flames along its body, but it soon fell limply onto the ground.

"Get her!" one of the apes close to me said, and all of them rushed at me. One ape with a long sword took a swing at me but it phased through me, leaving me unharmed. I looked down and saw a veil of that same mist cloaking me. Moments later, the cloak exploded unleashing the mist all around knocking the apes into the air.

I felt acid bubbling in my throat, and I let my instincts guide me as I spat some of that strange green fluid onto a large group of apes, ten to fifteen strong. They cried out, trying to remove some of the viscous paste. Soon their bodies started eroding away, starting at the point of infection. The apes passed out from the pain and eventually passed away.

I turned to face the few apes that were left and let out an earth shattering roar that caused them to stop in their tracks. A reddish aura blanketed them, and they cowered until they slowly died from pure terror. I turned to face Gaul who had a grin that was even larger than before.

"Come here, Cynder." Gaul said, and I gladly made my way to his front. Gaul took a deep breath as if trying to find the right words.

"Cynder, I need you to go find these dragons: Volteer, Cyril, Terrador, and Ignitus. They need to be alive, but if you need to 'persuade' them, I'll overlook that."

I nodded my head in acknowledgement, grinning at his choice of words.

"One more thing Cynder. Put these on. They'll allow me to help you from far away," Gaul handed me the jewelry and I gladly put it on. I waited another minute to see if Gaul would say anything. He motioned with his hand for me to go, and I took the hint.

I spread my large magenta wings and took off into flight. My first target: Volteer. Taking a quick glimpse behind me, I saw that Gaul was eating the moldy lamb skin I removed earlier. I nearly threw up in my mouth but I flew onwards, away from my prison.

**So, apparently Gaul likes moldy lamb skin. Interestering….**


End file.
